The BIG HISTORY Center is a scientific and environmental education and dissemination project whose purpose is to raise awareness, sensitise and educate everyone, from a practical and fun perspective, about the importance of science for the sustainable development of our societies. And the raison d’être of this space is that a small town, Aras de los Olmos, has all the necessary elements to be able to tell the great story of the universe from the initial moment of the Big Bang to the present day, when we must face the challenges of the future with good judgement and decisively.
Basically, the centre consists of a classroom for dissemination and training that is open to the territory for workshops, talks, conferences, screenings, exhibitions and courses on astronomical phenomena, palaeontology, archaeology, renewable energies, electronic engineering and also on the importance of history and botany for the environment, among other subjects. The project also includes national and international meetings, conferences and events; and the production of informative material – books, brochures, videos, and micro-videos –on scientific and environmental themes, with a participatory and gender focus.
The project has been supported not only by the University of Valencia and the City Council of Aras, but also by various institutions and public bodies – the Mancomunidad del Alto Turia (Commonwealth of Alto Turia), the Provincial Council of Valencia, the Generalitat Valenciana (Regional Government of Valencia) , the Government of Spain– ; by various companies, associations and organisations of the Valencian civil society – including the El Olmo Foundation of Aras de los Olmos and all the associations of the municipality; and an international network of municipalities and universities, the Open Science Hub. And all this because Aras de los Olmos has a great story to tell.
